LingoDrop
Italian · Pronunciation Guide
How do you pronounce "buono" in Italian?
BWOH-noh, stress on the first syllable, with "uo" collapsing into a single quick diphthong rather than two separate vowels. In IPA: /ˈbwɔ.no/.
Two syllables, buo and no, weight on the first. "Uo" is a true diphthong here: the u becomes a fast glide (like the w in "wonder") sliding straight into an open o, all inside a single syllable.
Listen: buono
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Sound it out
The spelling "uo" is the one thing that looks more complicated than it is: it's not u-then-o as two vowel sounds, it's a single glide-plus-vowel diphthong, the same shape as the w in English "swan."
Hear it in a sentence
Questa pizza è molto buona.
This pizza is very good.
Listen: Questa pizza è molto buona.
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"Buona" here shows the standard -o/-a agreement with the feminine noun "pizza," and "molto buona" ("very good") is one of the most common compliments in Italian, especially about food. "Buono" is also one of the few Italian adjectives that shortens before certain nouns when placed in front of them ("un buon amico," a good friend), though the sentence here uses the full, unshortened predicate form after "è."
Like "bravo," "buono" describes general quality rather than a skill — the two words aren't interchangeable even though English "good" covers both senses.
Where English speakers slip
The most common error is pronouncing "uo" as two separate, evenly-weighted vowel sounds — something like "boo-OH-no" — rather than collapsing the u into a quick consonant-like glide. English speakers do this naturally with "w" words like "swan," but don't always transfer that instinct to Italian spelling, where the same glide is written with a plain "u."
The second slip is using the closed o of words like "libero" instead of the open o this word actually needs — "buono" derives historically from a Latin short o, which in Italian consistently surfaces as the open ɔ, the same open quality found in "forte" and "porta."